1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to mobile handheld devices, and in particular, to synchronization of data on mobile handheld devices.
2. Background Art
Data-driven applications and websites are those that include the display of multiple pages of data, each page showing data elements formatted in a similar manner from page to page. Example data-driven applications and/or websites include: directories, including phone directories or directories of other personal, corporate, or client information; email tools (such as AOL, HOTMAIL, YAHOO! EMAIL, and others); financial tools; investment tools (such as ETRADE, AMERITRADE, and others); banking/checking tools (such as banking websites, QUICKEN, and others); etc.
Such applications and websites are currently made accessible on mobile devices by copying the entire application, or copying the pages of interest of the website to the mobile device. For example, if a mobile device desires to have access to a data-driven website for offline viewing, a copy of all the pages of interest of the website are transferred to the mobile device. If the website is updated, the website must be entirely re-transmitted to the mobile device. For a data-driven application, a special mobile version of the application and related data are copied to the mobile device. In either case, after transfer of the website or application to the mobile device, the mobile device can operate offline and view/interact with the website or application.
This practice, however, has its limitations. For example, a large amount of storage is required on the mobile device to store all of the downloaded web pages incorporating data, or to store the entire application and related data. Furthermore, transfer times for these web pages and applications to the mobile device can be long, including the initial transfer time required, and the time required to transfer updates to the website or application to the mobile device.
Thus, what is needed is a way to avoid the storage and transfer time problems that are present in conventional systems for accessing data-driven applications on mobile devices.